Holy Overreaction Batman

Yes, it's ridiculous to get so upset about the fourth game of the season that you write off the season and talk about what to do in the future, but I'm supremely pissed right now and the only way I can cheer myself up is to think about how things can get better.

Coaching staff:
I honestly don't know if John Fox returns at this point. If we don't see a major turnaround at some point this season, I think the discontent in the fan base and among the Richardsons will be great enough to prompt a change even though Fox is a good coach. If he stays, Trgo stays too, but they better send Crossman packing or we might have to take matters into our own hands there. If there is a change, I'd like to see Davidson stick but it would depend on the new coach. Everyone else can take a fucking hike for all I care.

QB: Jake and Carr will be back, and they're good enough to get the job done when the supporting cast does their jobs.

RB: Foster has really improved as an interior runner, but I'm sick of his fumbling. He has a base salary of $4.75 million next season, so he may be gone. If DeAngelo Williams can't do the job, get someone who can. And while we're at it, we need to either replace Hoover or at least get a strong blocker at TE or H-back.

WR: Smith is our superstar on offense and I continue to think that Jarrett will turn into a fine complement. I'd like to see us bring in a Wes Welker type as a slot receiver. If Robinson develops into that eventually, great, but right now I want a guy like Proehl with some fucking sure hands who won't drop shit.

TE: King is a keeper, but needs to work on his damn blocking. As noted, we also need a true blocking TE. Stephen Alexander might be adequate.

OL: Fuck Gross and re-sign Wharton. Hartwig is probably still too early in his contract to cut, and I doubt that we'll do anything with Wahle either. That's frustrating because our line can't move people for shit. If we pick high enough in the draft, we should do what it takes to get Jake Long. He is a very sound, very strong tackle with a mean streak. I don't know where Kalil fits in if Hartwig is still around, but one of them has to play RG or else Hartwig has to go.

DL: Bring in a new defensive line coach to work with Julius. He has too much talent to be wasting it like this. Also, anyone who jumps offsides more than five times during the season gets fucking cut. Any defensive tackle that costs an assload of money and rarely shows up (although he did well on the goalline there) gets cut too. Unfortunately his base doesn't get huge until '09, so he's probably here another year which means we don't end up addressing DT unless we dump Jenkins, who is our only consistent source of pressure. And unless the coaching staff is very confident in Charles Johnson's development, we need to bring in someone at RDE. McClover can play passing downs, but not in the base defense.

LB: Remove Morgan's temptation to keep playing and just cut him, then move Beason to MLB and Thomas Davis to WLB. Get a true SLB through the draft or free agency.

DB: FIND SOME FUCKING SAFETIES. I'm almost willing to let Fox go just for being so stupidly stubborn as to ignore an obvious weakness. We don't need Pro Bowlers at the position, but we desperately need guys who can A) carry out their assignments without mistakes, B) be fast enough to actually cover some ground, and C) tackle consistently. Lucas' base doesn't get huge until '09 either, so he's probably around for one more year.

Special teams: Bring in some legitimate competition for Kasay before he starts kicking from the retirement home. FIRE (or just kill) CROSSMAN.


And in terms of priorities, I'd rank them:
#1) SAFETIES
#2) Special teams coach
#3) Defensive line

 

Somebody said something about hearing on the radio that Pep wanted out of Carolina. Whatever happened to that (response-wise)?

 

The Panthers are in a tough position with him, obviously a fan fave, but not producing right now

 

>>I honestly don't know if John Fox returns at this point.

He's on the hot seat. I hate it cause I believe he's a good coach, but we are not playing to our standard/

>>QB: Jake and Carr will be back, and they're good enough to get the job done when the supporting cast does their jobs.

Agreed, but if it's a new coach, he will likely want to make an imprint here.

I'd make David get a fucking hair cut. But I'm a fan, and that's just me. It doesn't help that he played awfully today. His inaccuracy was as bad as his hair.

>>RB: Foster has really improved as an interior runner, but I'm sick of his fumbling.

I think the team could get blown up if a significant turn around does not happen. So yeah. He's never going to get that fixed, apparently.


>>WR: Smith is our superstar on offense and I continue to think that Jarrett will turn into a fine complement.

Free agency. Glad to see Jarrett at least get into the mix today, and he made a catch he was supposed to.


>>OL: Fuck Gross and re-sign Wharton. Hartwig is probably still too early in his contract to cut, and I doubt that we'll do anything with Wahle either. T

We coud cut Wahle. He's making too much.


>>DL: Bring in a new defensive line coach to work with Julius.

Don't know what's wrong with Pep. Perhaps all the movement has fucked with his rhythem. I think we need to reestablish our ID on defense, with the pass rush. It needs to come back.


Backer play isn't a huge problem. Morgan was never as good as people viewed him as, Beason looks decent. We've got nice coners. We need safeties and a way to create some pass rush other than blitzing our nickle.

 

There is no way that's true, it was just Buckner saying the dumbest things he could think of to indulge the bitterness he feels against the Panthers. Peppers is from here, he likes living here, and he doesn't want to be in a bigger spotlight.

Yeah, I basically said as much before the start of the regular season, and right now I wouldn't be at all sad to see it happen. We have some good players and good coaches, but right now it's not even coming close to working. This is embarrassing and frustrating.

 

I'm not going to talk about next year overall, but if Davidson can't add modern elements without having the same execution problems, he's not earned any further time here. To a point, Fox took a risk making the move, and whether you feel like Henning should have gone or not the more important move is what you replace him with.

I don't think that a coordinator should get only 16 games, but this offense is good enough to do good things and right now they're only doing it in spurts.

 

This year's passing game looks remarkably like last year's passing game. I Ryan's comments about our routes were right on target. I wonder if that stuff about our QB coach being the passing coordinator were more than a title. If so, we did not really make much of an O coaching change after all.

If Morgan or Seward can't go next week, we either see Beason, or another game of RBs gashing the middle. Maybe Anderson will be improved with a full game under his belt, but I bet he just doesnt have it. I hate to impede Beason, but Seward's been pretty fragile too. Or try Shaw. But someone has to play the middle.

Don't know what to say about the O. I would say Carr doesnt have it, but Jake was pretty ineffective against Houston too.

The thing that makes this OK for me is I know if we don't get dramatic improvement, JR will not stand for this. He will make a change. Some owners wouldnt, but he will. I just hope he can do better when he hires anew, if that happens.

 

Our offensive output vs Houston would have kept us competitive in this game.

In every game, we've had these problems. No rush, bad safety play. Poor tackling overall. Against good defenses, we haven't been able to run, and we've been one dimmentional.

 

If so, then we didn't give Davidson much of a chance.
And where are the TE combo routes? The TE wasn't used at all early this week, and we needed first downs.

I agree. I'm not in favor of using him in the middle unless necessary, but this is necessary.

 

It's hard for me to believe that we didn't try any seams or crosses to attack the 2 deep zone. We just didn't complete them.

That goes back to Carr.